26th Annual CBE Graduate Student Research Symposium

Dr. Hemant Dandekar is the Global Commercial Director of Automotive Advanced Interlayers business at Eastman Chemical Switzerland in Zug, Switzerland. Before taking on his current role, he held positions in Marketing, Enterprise Strategy, and Corporate Strategy.  Previously he was the President/CEO of Porcelain Industries, a mid-size manufacturer of engineered enamel coated components for appliance and energy industries. During his tenure at Porcelain Industries, he successfully steered the company through the great recession while focusing on long term diversification and growth objectives.  Previously he held positions as a Global Integration Leader for Mergers and Acquisitions, and VP/GM of the Americas Inks business for Hexion Specialty Chemicals- an Apollo Management Company. He led the turnaround of the global Inks business for Eastman Chemical Company and its subsequent divestiture and sale as an Apollo Management portfolio company. Dandekar has also held positions in Corporate Venture Capital, Corporate Strategy and Global Product Marketing at Eastman Chemical. He has previously worked at Honeywell UOP, in Des Plaines, IL in various positions including Research and Development Specialist, Team Leader of a new process development team, and as a manager of knowledge management and process modeling group.

Dr. Dandekar received his B.Tech. from IIT-Bombay in Chemical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) in 1991. He received his MBA in Finance and Strategy at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business graduating with High Honors in 2000 as part of the Weekend Program. 

Size-based separation of molecules by rationally designed membranes

Exploring Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for Salivary Gland Regeneration: A Developmental Guide

Student Choice Research Award:

Dinesh Kumar Behera: A Facilitated Transport Membrane Composed of Restricted Ionic Liquid in Graphene Oxide/Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Framework for Efficient Carbon Capture.

Excellence in Biological Research Award:

Debanik Choudhury: Glutamine Metabolism is linked to Age-associated Loss of Skeletal Muscle Function

Excellence in Computational Research Award:

Jinhui Li: Effects of Anti-inflammatory Drugs on Lipid Bilayers, Insights from Thermodynamics & Molecular Modeling

Excellence in Materials Research Award:

Richard Ciora: A Bifunctional Membrane Reactor for Direct Synthesis of LPG via CO2 Hydrogenation